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Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

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Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#241

Post by danaris »

_up wrote: post #61
coldtea wrote: post #40

> Don’t be duped by performance, Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control Yes. That's the biggest benefit, and another reason I'm buying it (on top of great performance for my NLE apps). I want the Mac to be it's own platform, and be under Apple's control and vision. If it's also made foul-proof and air-tight, so much the better. I don't want another lowest common denominator OS converging on the same point.…

Can you leave these beautiful Japanese Gardens once you decided to enter or are you getting jailed there? Because you can't just leave Apples ecosystem unless willing to switch devices+ecosystem of course.

"Switching devices+ecosystem" is leaving the garden. There's really no other possible way to put it in that metaphor. You're not jailed.

The only thing keeping you there is your own desire to retain the things that are...inside the garden. The Apple software. The services. The user experience.

The one thing I can see being upset about is losing access to the software you've purchased. But switching to Apple (or even Linux) from Windows/Android means giving up exactly the same things. That's not about a "walled garden": it's just a consequence of the fact that software has to be written, or at least compiled, for a particular platform, and significant extra effort has to be expended to make it functional across platforms.

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#242

Post by Dirlewanger »

matsemann wrote: post #101
jb1991 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a general problem with the overall, wider polarization of modern culture. Whether it’s politics or tech, people really really really love to take sides in our world today, it it seems to have a blinding effect on perspectives and logic for many people on both sides of the argument.

It's good that one has the enlightened centrists to tell everyone that both sides are equally bad, at least.

It's better than shilling for your favorite tech company for free.

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#243

Post by yoz-y »

quantummkv wrote: post #29
pentae wrote: post #7

It was a masterclass in duping really. Step 1. Design the enclosure/thermals for a much lower TDP ARM chip, causing the Intel chips to thermal throttle and run hot as possible burning your lap and roasting your palms for years Step 2. Introduce the new powerful ARM chip which now runs much cooler and faster in the same enclosure Step 3. Profit! Worked on me, I just ordered mine

How is that a dupe? A dupe would be if the M1 chip was worse than Intel. If Apple can design a chip for those constraints and Intel can't, it's Intel's fault and problem

Dupe is not a good word, but maybe disingenuous? Apple is touting silence now, but had the thermals of intel MacBooks been better they could be way less of hairdryers too. Apple could have also introduced better power controls for Intel Macs (now everybody runs Turbo Boost switcher).

iMac Pro has shown that they can do better with same enclosure, I wonder if they could have done something with MacBooks too. They would probably have to sacrifice a few millimetres of thinness but I think the decreased noise and throttling would be more noticeable.

That said, I don't believe there was any master plan behind this. They just originally prioritised thinness and battery size over everything else. With M1 they can have their cake and eat it too.

Edit: Also they could have ditched Intel for AMD a generation or two ago and also improve on performance per watt.

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#244

Post by dingaling »

w0utert wrote: post #219
Hamuko wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google allows third-party app stores and most of the source code for Android is out there in the open. I don't know how Google "practically owns" your device considering Apple asserts a much more complete control over your device.

>> Google allows third-party app stores and most of the source code for Android is out there in the open. Is that true though? I though pretty much all of the Google services and vendor-specific skins and OS modifications are just as closed as iOS? Last time I heard vanilla AOSP is pretty much unusable because besides the core OS functions everything is grossly outdated? Is anyone using Android phones without any of…

> Is anyone using Android phones without any of the Google services?

Yes I have a couple of phones running LineageOS without GApps. The apps are installed through FDroid or direct from the vendor ( e.g. WhatsApp.apk from their website, which also manages its own updates ).

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#245

Post by robotnikman »

valuearb wrote: post #202
dhruvmittal wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly naive question but does anyone know if CUDA is supported on the new M1 macs? I think I heard on a podcast last week that eGPUs would no longer be supported, but I can't find a reference.

EGPUs aren’t supported for the M1, but Big Sur still identifies and connects to them, implying Apple may restore this feature in the future.

I think eGPUs require a thunderbolt connection, which IIRC is only supported by Intel processors

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#246

Post by selykg »

spijdar wrote: post #22

> However, that marginal improvement hardly seems worth upsetting the entire Mac OS developer and consumer software ecosystem. Really? This entire article is really dismissive, but this line especially struck me. I'm not convinced the M1 chip is some strange alien tech bypassing the laws of physics, but it seems clearly superior at its specific niche (single processes with an emphasis on low power usage, using fewer…

> The author also makes the confusing suggestion that M1 is a ploy to get developers to publish to the App Store because ... Xcode produces fat mach-o's? Maybe I'm an idiot here, but all those third party apps are also made with xcode. Where is the correlation with the app store? Sure, apple has been pushing the app store, but how does "apple silicon" specifically push devs there?

App Store has smart deploy features so it only sends you what you need. So maybe that's it. But still.. it's a pretty weak argument.

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#247

Post by vagrantJin »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #64
Multicomp wrote: post #16

> At some point in the not too distant future, old x86 applications will cease to run on Macs, as emulation support won’t run forever One thing I can credit Android some, and Windows a lot (even 10 with all its manifold privacy and user-hostility problems) with is that they are backwards compatible. exceptions to every rule, etc., but I can run all old versions of Android apps on an Android 11 phone, same for Windows…

There is a cost to that though, the reality is Windows has become rather bloated because MS can't let anything go. It doesn't help that they have never been able to say no to anything and everything getting included.

> ..rather bloated because MS can't let anything go.

Ah. This comment seems off the cuff and not well thought out.

I think you may be underestimating the scope and scale at which Windows OS operates[0]. Outside of cool techie agencies and SV type companies, the default OS for any organization from churches to charities to governments to schools, the world over, is Windows. MacOS may be sleek and shiny apex predator but our world would grind to a halt, an absolute standstill if WindowsOS suddenly got wiped. It's not a whale. It's the ocean itself.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_sys...

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#248

Post by nickjj »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #117
socialdemocrat wrote: post #68

The truth is somewhere in the middle, so while this article has some good points it is too colored by a strong dislike for all things Apple and borderline conspiratorial thinking. I don’t think there is anything that suggests Apple is going to stop people from installing Apps outside their App Store. Rather it is about making sure it is easy for regular users to get Apps in a safe manner without malware and Trojan ho…

I'm pretty neutral about it myself; on the one hand, you give up a bit of control and freedom over your hardware. But on the other, 99% of users have no need for, or cannot be trusted with that freedom. I mean I've worked with Windows for multiple generations of the operating system, and once the internet became a thing it was just complete shit. I had a side job fixing computers for people, and it was always adware,…

> I mean I've worked with Windows for multiple generations of the operating system, and once the internet became a thing it was just complete shit. I had a side job fixing computers for people, and it was always adware, viruses, etc messing things up.

Windows 10 isn't perfect but it's a much different time than multiple generations ago with Windows 95 / 98, XP or even 7.

Back then you could visit a site and end up needing to format because of a virus, even if you were very much into tech.

Nowadays even if you disable Windows Defender and any active AV tool, it's pretty unlikely you'll get yourself to the point where you need to format due to a virus or some adware.

This is speaking from the perspective of someone who has been using Windows since the mid 1990s.

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#249

Post by EwanToo »

robotnikman wrote: post #245
valuearb wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EGPUs aren’t supported for the M1, but Big Sur still identifies and connects to them, implying Apple may restore this feature in the future.

I think eGPUs require a thunderbolt connection, which IIRC is only supported by Intel processors

The new mac's ship with USB4/Thunderbolt ports - it's now a cross-platform port (USB4 is a merger of sorts between USB and Thunderbolt)

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/usb-4-faq,38766.html

Re: Apple’s M1 silicon is all about platform control

#250

Post by pvg »

oarsinsync wrote: post #221
matwood wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Apple could be lying, but they (top executives) have stated multiple times that the mac is not an iDevice. They have also stated they have no plans to only allow installs from app store, and they understand the value of tools like brew etc...They are what makes the mac popular with developers. This could all change, but until it does articles like this feel a lot like FUD. Additionally, completely dismissing…

Apple have a history of denying anything until it's ready, and then they flip the script. While the article is clearly biased, it would be foolish to believe that Apple is a company that doesn't change course, going as far as total U-turns on public statements, as long as it's in their interests to do so. > They are what makes the mac popular with developers Developers believe that they're Apple's priority when it co…

What are some relevant, analogous examples from this history?
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